Secrets of The South
by DeansGirl1983
Summary: Arriving in Hazel, TX, Jasper Hale meets the Cullens, a family with deep, dark secrets, and he soon finds out his fate of becoming one of them. As tragedy and romance meet, an explosion of violence threatens to tear their world apart.


1852

Colorado

I was a young boy living in Colorado when the first fight between our town and the Indians happened. Feuds between towns and Indians were common in these days. You could be in the general store buying supplies, in the saloon sipping whiskey, or at the barber getting a shave, and suddenly there would be screaming and gunfire heard miles away. Settlers would come into town to stay because they would be terrified of staying out at their homestead alone in the woods. That day, and that first fight, changed my outlook on the war that was only beginning. I was playing by the creek when I heard the screams and the whooping and hollering I knew were Indians. My blood ran cold and I dropped the stick I was using to fish with and took off for the house. But when I got there I froze. Dust billowed everywhere and I had to shut my eyes because of the sting. When I opened them I wish I hadn't. I saw my Father first. His body was on the ground at my feet, his rifle lying beside him, blood seeping from underneath his head. I stepped back, bile rising in my throat, my eyes wide with fear. I smelled smoke and death and I turned my gaze to the homestead and saw my Mother lying on the porch, her dress bloody, and the flames from the fire already erasing the carnage that had just taken place. In the distance I could hear the sound of horses retreating and as I stood there, face dusty, eyes filled with unshed tears, my heart began to turn to stone.

I had been orphaned by a rebellious band of dog soldiers. My parents had been shot, and my Father had been scalped. I knew the smoke could be seen from town and it was only a matter of time before people would come. I gazed at the massacre a second longer and then turned and headed for the trees. I never looked back.

I left Colorado, vowing to seek revenge on the Tribe that slaughtered my family. When I turned eighteen I enlisted in the Cavalry. I never forgot my past. I was fortunate enough to head back to Colorado two years later just as I turned twenty. We rode up onto the reservation that night and I proudly help slaughter every Indian I could get my hands on for devastating my childhood. I remember finding that same creek that I had fished in as a boy on that fateful day, and it is where I washed the blood off of my face and hands. I felt satisfied. I felt that I had done my duty as a son, and as a soldier. I knew that justice had been served and I knew that I would do it again. But what I didn't know was that in a few months, just as I turned twenty-one and followed the Cavalry into the town of Hazel, Texas, my life would take a drastic change.

Jasper Hale

The screaming could be heard throughout the clinic as the woman's head fell back against the pillow, her face flushed, her eyes filled with agony. Alice Cullen soaked a cloth in the basin beside the examining table, wrung it out, and then gently placed it on the woman's head. She raised worried eyes to the blonde man at near the woman's feet.

"How is she?"

Doctor Carlisle Cullen raised his head and met his adopted daughter's sad but steady gaze and he slowly shook his head. Alice's gold eyes flickered down to the woman lying semi-conscious on the blood-soaked sheets.

"The baby needs to be wrapped and taken next door Alice. I need to tend to her." He nodded at the woman and Alice saw the flash of emotion in his eyes.

"Carlisle, if you can't save her-"

"Alice, please. Go."

Alice's brow furrowed but she silently gathered the small bundle from the woman's feet and headed out the door.

Dr. Carlisle waited until the door was closed and then the emotion he had kept hidden from Alice crumbled and his mouth thinned, his breath became uneven, and his eyes filled with anguish. Esme Evenson. The woman he had been in love with since his arrival to Hazel. The woman he had watched marry another and then swell with child, her face aglow as she walked down the street, her smile radiant. The woman whose husband had left her for another, breaking her heart because he did not want the responsibility of a family. The woman who had stumbled into his clinic hours earlier, eyes filled with pain and terror, her belly tightening with labor and the need to deliver her child. The woman whose child had just died…

The woman who was dying in his arms now…

Carlisle tried frantically to stop the bleeding from Esme but knew that his attempts were futile.

"Live, Esme, live," He whispered roughly. His hands worked quickly, grabbing instruments and towels, as he concentrated on staunching the heavy flow of blood. Esme let out a moan and Carlisle's head snapped up. Her eyes flickered and then opened into slits and her lips parted. Carlisle stopped what he was doing and moved to the head of the table. His bloody fingers stroked her matted brown hair as he said softly, "Esme?"

She turned slightly at his voice and her eyes opened wide as she found him.

"Esme, can you hear me?"

"M-My baby," She breathed, her voice weak. Carlisle swallowed hard as he stared at the woman he absolutely adored. Her heart was fluttering erratically underneath his hand and her breathing came in soft gasps as she struggled to live.

"You had a little girl," Carlisle said, his voice trembling slightly with emotion. Esme's lips lifted into a slight smile even as she tried to breath.

"Is she perfect?"

And Carlisle gazed into his true love's eyes and said, "She's beautiful. Just like you."

"Thank you," Esme whispered, her voice choked. Carlisle simply nodded as he stroked her cheek. Suddenly she gasped loudly and her body jerked violently on the table. Carlisle continued to stay by her side, one hand at her head, the other trying to hold her down gently as she fought to live. But she was dying. There wasn't anything he could do.

Or was there?

Carlisle sucked in a sharp breath and looked towards the clinic door. Alice wasn't back yet. He turned back to Esme and took her small hand in his and brought his face inches from hers.

"Esme, listen to me. Listen! No matter what happens I love you. Do you understand me? I love you. I've loved you since the first time I saw you. You may hate me after I do this but I will always love you. I promise. I'm going to save you. Maybe it's selfish on my part but you deserve to live. Esme? You're going to be in pain but I will be right here with you. It's going to hurt sweetheart," Carlisle said, his voice breaking, "But I'll do everything I can to make the pain bearable and then it will be over. Do you hear me? I love you Esme. I love you." Carlisle did not know if Esme had heard what he said but to his own ears his words calmed him. He loved this woman more than anything and hearing himself say it out loud only made him realize that he would do anything for her. And that included giving her life.

"Hang on Esme, I promise it will be over soon," He whispered. Carlisle kissed her cheek and then tilted her head back gently exposing her throat.

Emmett Cullen was standing outside the sheriff's office leaning against the doorframe when his younger sister Alice appeared, her golden eyes filled with anguish and frustration.

"I'm sorry Alice," Emmett said somberly, "That must have been hard, carrying a baby's body to the blacksmith for burial."

"It was hard," Alice replied, her voice soft.

"Carlisle still working on Esme?"

"Yes. He's trying to save her." Alice's eyes flickered to the clinic down the street and she stared at it, her mouth drawn into a frown. Another man suddenly appeared next to Emmett, his honey-colored eyes filled with concern.

"Alice, are you all right?"

She turned startled eyes to Edward, the youngest in the Cullen family, and said, "Why wouldn't I be?"

"I just had a feeling you were upset."

Alice stared at him and he returned her gaze un-blinking.

"I think Carlisle is the one who is upset," She said finally.

"Because of Esme?" Emmett asked. Alice nodded.

"Well, he's been in love with her since she rode into Hazel," Edward said.

"And he's a doctor. He just lost a patient so of course he's upset," Emmett pointed out.

"Esme lost the baby?" Edward began but Alice cut him off, answering Emmett.

"I know," she said, eyes flashing with unexpected anger, "That's not what I meant."

"Then what did you mean little sister?" Emmett drawled. Alice looked back at the clinic her uneasiness growing. Carlisle loved Esme more than anything. Esme was dying. Carlisle would be devastated.

Unless…

Alice gasped, her eyes widening, her face going white. Emmett straightened from the doorframe, eyes narrowing, his breath coming out in a low hiss. Edward shoved Emmett aside and stepped out onto the dusty street, eyes roaming the area, looking for a threat. Finding none, Edward spun around and grabbed Alice's shoulders, shaking her gently.

"Alice, what's wrong?"

"He wouldn't…" She whispered.

"Wouldn't what?" Emmett snapped. Alice pulled herself from Edward's grasp and looked at them both, her eyes panicked.

"Think about what he would do if Esme was dying! Her baby is dead, she's dying and Carlisle can't save her."

"Then she dies," Emmett replied.

"Unless Carlisle can't live without her," Alice said, voice harsh. Slowly recognition dawned on both of her brother's faces.

"He wouldn't!" Edward gasped.

"There are already five of us. We have enough to do with keeping our secret safe and he wants to jeopardize that?" Emmett demanded, voice rising.

"Sh!" Edward snarled.

"Let's just go to the clinic," Alice said quickly, "Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he won't do this."

"Alice, I can't explain it but I can feel what you-"Edward started but she silenced him with a look. He looked away and she turned and started down the sidewalk, trying not to run, Emmett and Edward close at her heels.

I hope I'm wrong, Alice thought, I don't understand why he would do this. And what are we going to do if he does?

"I shouldn't have left," Alice muttered, "I should have stayed and helped him."

"You can't blame yourself," Emmett growled as they hurried down the street.

"He loves her Emmett. He's always loved her. Don't you think he would do anything to save her?" Alice's tone was filled with anger and panic as she reached the clinic door and flung it open.

"Carlisle is everything-"Alice's voice trailed off and she froze in the doorway as she looked around the now empty room. The exam table was covered in blood, blood soaked towels were strewn everywhere and there was even blood on the floor.

"Damn," Emmett muttered.

Alice stepped inside the room, her brothers following, as she looked around.

"Poor Esme," Edward whispered.

"It was a difficult delivery," Alice said absently, her mind not on the bloodbath before her, but on the fact that the room was empty. Where was Carlisle?

"You don't think he lost control do you?" Emmett barked suddenly in the silence. Alice spun around, eyes wide.

"What?"

"Look at all the blood. You don't think he just couldn't help himself since-"

"Emmett! Listen to yourself. Carlisle is the most disciplined of us all. He would never-"

"I'm just looking at the evidence Alice," Emmett snapped.

"All the blood is because Esme had a hard time delivering her child and she bled out. It happens sometimes in childbirth."

"And Emmett knows so much about childbirth," Edward murmured.

"Shut up Edward!" Emmett said angrily.

"All right, enough," Alice said, voice cracking like a whip, "Carlisle would never do what your implying Emmett although it's understandable to think it."

"I'm the sheriff. I'm trained to think things like that."

"Not when it's your own family," Edward said.

"Didn't I tell you to shut up?"

"Enough I said," Alice barked, "We need to find Carlisle. He may be upstairs. Let's stop the bickering. He did not lose control and kill Esme all right?"

"Of course," Edward said instantly.

"Your right," Emmett amended, "My bad."

"Your bad what?" Edward asked.

"Edward-"Emmett snarled.

Alice threw up her hands in frustration and turned away from the two men, heading for the stairs that led to the second floor and to the patient's rooms.

Alice noticed that the arguing behind her had stopped and she paused on the first step that led upstairs and turned around to see her brothers eying the exam room in disgust.

"Come on Emmett, let's clean up."

"There's so much blood," Emmett said, voice uneven.

"I know that but we need to clean it up."

"What about Carlisle? We need to find him."

"Alice will find him," Edward said. Emmett glared at his younger brother and then gestured around the room.

"Why do we need to clean this up now? It can wait."

"Emmett, this is the only clinic in town. What if someone showed up needing medical attention and they walked in here to find-"

"Oh hell, fine" Emmett barked, interrupting, "Soak up the blood with the towels and then we'll burn them."

"Burn them?"

"Just do it Edward," Emmett snarled, tossing him a towel. Edward caught it and without further comment knelt down and began sponging up the pools of blood from the floor. Emmett started on the exam table and slowly the red began to fade to pink. Alice blinked, realizing how long she had stood watching, and she turned and started back up the stairs.

She had just hit the top step when blackness engulfed her and she cried out, stumbling against the wall.

"Alice?"

She heard Edward's voice down below but she couldn't answer. Images were flashing in front of her eyes like fireworks and Alice could only let herself fall to floor as they over-whelmed her.

"_Esme, it will be over soon. I promise," Carlisle whispered…_

_His lips parted and then his teeth were at her throat, biting down gently._

Alice gasped as she realized what he was doing. What he done.

"Alice?" Edward's voice was closer and Alice tried to call out but she was locked on the flashes of Carlisle and Esme, her eyes blind to only what she saw and what she couldn't stop.

_Esme tried to scream but could only make a choking sound, her body thrashing on the bed. Carlisle shushed her, his expression tortured, his lips smeared with her blood. His hand, trembling only slightly, brushed across her cheek. Esme's eyes were on him filled with terror and pain. Low moans came from the back of her throat. Carlisle said softly, "I'm so sorry. Hold on. Please hold on. You'll only be in pain a little while. Esme…" Carlisle's voice broke and he leaned forward, one hand grasping hers, the other on her ashen cheek. _

"_Esme," He whispered brokenly._

Suddenly Alice's vision cleared and she gasped aloud as the clinic hallway came back into focus, the darkness lifting. Her eyes fell onto the door that was closed down the hall and she knew, she _knew_ Carlisle and Esme were there.

"ALICE!" Her eyes flickered from the door to Edward and she was startled to see him only inches away from her face, his hands gripping her arms.


End file.
